The previous long-standing record – of AED185m – has been unbeaten since 2015. While many transactions came close to that amount, it was leading luxury property broker Conor McKay who clinched the astounding deal.
And the property in question? AED280 million – that’s over USD76.2 million gets you a ten bedroomed, custom-built villa on Palm Jumeirah. This enormous contemporary white villa features an enormous 33,000sq. ft. of state-of-the-art living space, seven-star spa hotel facilities, (including a gym and a hair salon), imported and handpicked book-matched Italian marble, all furnished by uber-lux Italian furniture houses Giorgetti and Minotti. And don’t forget the property comes with more than 70 meters of private beachfront.
Real estate platform propertymonitor.com verified that the sale of this Palm Jumeirah villa sets a new record for the highest value residential villa sale in Dubai.
Property Monitor’s COO, Zhann Jochinke, says, “To see a transaction of this magnitude illustrates the ongoing strength of Dubai’s property market particularly in the ultra-high-end segment. The transaction not only beats Dubai’s previous record but closes the gap between Dubai’s luxury market and those of leading global cities such as London, New York, and Hong Kong.”
For context, the highest value property in London is currently on the market for around USD40m; in New York, US$169m, and in Hong Kong USD82.2m. Broker Conor McKay is no stranger to Dubai’s uber-luxury property market. He has a long history of selling luxury real estate. Having established himself as one of the top brokers in Emirates Hills, Palm Jumeriah, and Dubai Hills, he has won numerous third-party awards over the years. Conor prides himself on giving expert advice to his clients, combined with a finely tuned, strategic approach to negotiations to ensure his clients get the best deal. Having sold more than AED 750,000,000 in luxury real estate in 2021 alone, Conor is already shaping up to surpass that in 2022 with this record-breaking transaction.
For those familiar with Dubai’s property market, it might not come as a surprise that the transaction record has been beaten. 2021 saw tremendous growth – with property prices increasing an estimated 21% within the first 10 months of the year and over AED135 bn worth of transactions occurring between January and November 2021.
According to Conor McKay, “One major key to the growth in 2021 was the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While we experienced a very strict lockdown, within six weeks Dubai had one of the most comprehensive testing infrastructures globally, allowing life to return to normal almost immediately. Within 12 months, 89.7% of the population was vaccinated. This response saw an influx of high-net-worth individuals from overseas. Combine that with an already undervalued property market and the result is the explosive growth we witnessed last year.”
While such rapid growth could be cause for alarm, Peter Smithson, Sales Director at Belleview, thinks otherwise, “While a short-term view of the market can be intimidating, when we look at the overall history, we see the current average AED cost per sq. foot of property is only 78% of the previous peak in 2014. Consider how strong Dubai is now, compared to then, and you have no option but to predict further significant growth.”
This suggests that the buyer of this magnificent, record-breaking property is likely to see their prized asset increase in value over the coming years. So, while we congratulate Conor on his record-breaking transaction, all eyes will continue to be on the market to see if it will be broken again in 2022. Given that in the same month he broke the record, he also sold an additional AED150m worth of property, we won’t be surprised to see Conor beating it himself.
If you want to find the property of your dreams, and follow Conor’s stellar career, his Instagram account (@luxurypropertydubai) gives a fantastic insight into Dubai’s luxury real estate market.
